Chase HOT figures of days gone by . . . .

[TrueDave]

You know the lines,


Knock out Joker
The Blank
Commander Cash
1701 Playmates
Galoob ST ALiens
The Rhino
invisible woman
Wolverine black claws
Almost ANY Batman Animated villian
Foot soldier from Costners Robin Hood Movie



what else did you have to chase down "back in the day?"

( I know this is mostly 90's but I never had any trouble finding all the Star Wars/MEGO or GI Joe figures when I was an actual kid ????)

[boynightwing]

I found the original Storm Shadow at Disney World of all places. He cost twice as much as he would anywhere else but I had to get him because I had never seen him any place else.

I got Super Powers Robin on the same trip. Every store we went to between Ontario and Florida I had to look for Robin with no success until I got to Ft. Lauderdale.

[ScottA]

I don't remember having trouble finding any of the B:TAS villains. I did find a 1701 Yar in TRU, but never the others. I also found a Super Powers Cyborg in Kmart. First and only time I ever saw one in a store.

[Godzilla]

The remember the Phantasm from Mask of the Phantasm being hard to find. I think I found one in a CVS.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

Dave you're lucky that you never had trouble finding SW, Mego, or Joes back in the day. There were quite a few that were elusive to me...

For some reason we had a really hard time finding a red Snaggletooth for the longest time. I didn't finally get my hands on one 'til Xmas of 1982. I'd had blue Snaggletooth since '79 and felt cheated that I didn't have the "real" one....d'oh!!

I made my parents run all over kingdom come for a few years trying to locate an Ace Frehley KISS mego, and the 8" Torch, Thing, Iron Man and Hulk (can you believe he was hard to find for me?!?!?!) The only one they were able to find eventually was Hulk and that wasn't 'til about 1980 when they started showing up discounted and in droves. Didn't get the other ones 'til I was an adult collector.

Later on I spent ages trying to find those 1701 Trek figures (never did *sigh*) and the 7th season Thomas Riker and Redemption Data. Eventually found Riker, still never got the others.

I can remember in the 1990s being really excited when I'd locate a Rhino, or talking Venom, or color-change Invisible Girl. Most of those aren't worth much of anything in terms of dollar value, but it was sure alot of fun trying to find them and such. It's a shame they depreciated in value but I don't regret the time I spent hunting for toys, it was a lot of fun.

[Godzilla]

I agree nvmbrsdoom5, the hunt is a ton of fun.

[toys2cool]

I remember going crazy and making my mom go to every toy store looking for the blank, only to find out years later that it was only available at one sears in Canada

Miami would've been the last place in the USA that it could possibly be....even went to Disney thinking it might be an exclusive

[Earth 2 Chris]

My wife still reminds me of how I literally skipped down the aisles of a Wal-Mart after find the original BTAS Harley Quinn figure.

Other than her, I didn't have much trouble finding BTAS figures...mostly because I was a stockboy at Wal-Mart when the line started. I pulled the figures straight from the case before they ever hit the shelves. I'm somewhat ashamed of that now, but I never flipped any of them...

Chris

[TrueDave]

I didnt have any trouble as a kid finding figures untill the second line of Secret wars and third of Superpowers. Which was okay. I was "quitting" about then . .

I dunno. Other than a Batman Mego Comic Action Bridge I dont remeber having to go through "The Hunt" untill the 90's. (It was my birthday we went to three K Marts to find one that didnt have Batman stolen out of the box)
The only dead end as a little kid was Wilma or Buck from the BuckRogers line. ( i had one but was missing the other, never found it)

I think something changed from the 1970's to the 1990s. Collectors sure, but I think they really changed packing quantity. I know my dad didnt take me to all the stores looking either. I guess I was lucky.

Am I wrong in suspecting today there would be a dozen Han, Luke and Vaders on the pegs and NO Cantina Aliens?

[bp1701a]

My wife used to indulge in my "hunting" for certain figures, we would hit sooooo mmany TRU,Kmart, Walmarts,Targets,even Vally fair here in New Jersey,, it was fun, but gas was cheaper back then...
I dont really like chase figures, cause I have persoanlly seen, comic shop owners line up and rush in to TRU to look and get a bunch of the figures then really mark them up. which to a kid, is really unfair.
But the hunt was still fun, going and looking fer certain stores, I have foun many cool antique and other stores on the way.

[mazinz]

I remember having trouble finding Scarlett from the first GI JOE 3/34 line

and I also recall that finding the 2-1B surgical droid from the Empire strikes back took me a long while as well


AHHH then again neither of them were chase figures

[samurainoir]

April o'neill (yellow)
Pink Cannonball
Malebolgia
Ice man (the 1st one you had to put in the freezer)

[tay666]

Oh yeah. That 2-1B.
IG-88 was also hard as heck to find around here as well.

Then again, we didn't (still don't) have much to choose from.
One small K-mart in town. Back in the day, we also had a Fisher's Big Wheel.
And I think Western Auto might have had some figures as well. But that was it in town.
2 or 3 times a year, we might go a few towns over to the nearest Hill's. They had a better selection. But, as I said, we only went occasionally.

I still remember the SW overload, the first time I ever went to the mall.
I saw soooo much stuff. Most of it, I never even knew existed.
I think the first time we were ever taken to the mall was about 78 or 79.
It was about 35 miles away, and back then, that was a huge trip.
I never even saw a TRU or a Children's Palace until I was about 20, when I had a license and a car of my own to go there.

[ddgaff1132]

April o'neill (yellow)
Pink Cannonball
Malebolgia
Ice man (the 1st one you had to put in the freezer)

I second the April O'neill. Wasnt my cup o tea but a friend was in need. After searching all toy stores in my area. I believed the fig to be a myth.

[Bruce Banner]

I also lived in a small town, and although we had a local independent toy store plus a Zellers (which always had a good toy department), it was always an event when we went to the bigger cities to a big mall or a larger department store.

It was during one of those trips that I got my vinyl cape Jawa.